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Dateline: 2nd October, 2005
Mandy Stewart, chief executive of Leicester's Haymarket Theatre, is to leave at the beginning of next year. She arrived at the Haymarket more than four years ago. Her tenure will be remembered for its widely fluctuating fortunes, from the theatre's closure, which involved Arts Council England having to draw up a rescue package, to the start of work on a multi-million pound replacement venue. Stewart was in charge at the theatre when it was forced to close. In July 2003 the Haymarket amassed debts of £450,000, due largely to a series of culturally diverse productions failing to reach box-office targets. More than sixty people lost their jobs. Unions criticised the management but Stewart refused to resign. Leicester became the biggest city in the country without a major theatre, a situation which dragged on for fourteen months. The Arts Council had to prop up the Haymarket with a £1.3m rescue package. Now the theatre is looking forward to moving in 2007 into a £48m complex in the city's new cultural quarter. Said Stewart, "My brief was to lay the foundations for a strong producing theatre with a sustainable future. The ideas I brought to the project have now been enshrined in the development of the new performing arts centre. "By the end of the year I'll have completed what I came here to do. It'll then be the right moment to step aside and enable a new leader to take the organisation forward over the next five years." Stewart is planning to take a break from the theatre industry. Reporter: Steve Orme Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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